What I read in October…

I was lucky enough to get to go and see Frank Cottrell Boyce giving the David Fickling Lecture at Oxford’s Story Museum (thanks, Susie!) so I read Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time in preparation. And just like the first book, I loved it. (I’ve got the final book in the series lined up for November). I was also lucky enough to read an advance copy of Frank’s new book, The Astounding Broccoli Boy, and I loved that too.

I’ve been wanting to read Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill for so long. I loved the idea of it and Louise is great on Twitter and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s gripping and chilling and all too real.

I loved Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky. A tricky subject gently handled and the character of Grayson is just lovely.

I didn’t know what to expect from Alex As Well by Alyssa Brugman, but I absolutely loved it. It’s got one of the best first chapters I’ve ever read and I pretty much inhaled the rest. There were a few bits I would have liked to have been fleshed out a bit more, but I still thought it was utterly brilliant.

I took a while to really get into Wildlife by Fiona Wood, but once I did I was addicted. I didn’t want it to end.

The only adult fiction I read was All Fall Down by one of my favourite authors, Jennifer Weiner. Another difficult subject, beautifully handled and another book that I pretty much inhaled.

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham is far from an easy read – I’ve been thinking about it a lot since I finished it – but I really enjoyed it.

I also really enjoyed Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York, particularly the first essay by Rosanne Cash, which just blew me away and made me yearn for a whole other life.